THE KING IS COMING CHRISTIAN CH


	THE KING IS COMING CHRISTIAN CHURCH

DANIEL SERIES: GOD RULES SOVEREIGN IN THE KINGDOM OF MEN

Sermon I: A Non Negotiable Faith

Text: Daniel 1:1-21

Introduction:

Born in 1888, a young Indian boy from Oklahoma, dreamed of being a professional football player. When other boys were playing in the fields of Oklahoma, he was running and kicking balls. He did eventually play both football and baseball. In 1904 he entered Carlisle Indian School, where he exceed in football, baseball and track. So much so, that in the 1912 Olympics in Sweden, he won gold medals in both the decathlon and pentathlon. The King of Sweden at the awards ceremony said: "Sir you are the greatest athlete in the world." His name was Jim Thorpe.

Jim Thorpe did not rise to greatness on his own, someone named Glenn Scobey, better known as "Pop Warner" seen Jim's potential and trained him for the greatest challenge of his life, to win two Olympic Gold medals.

God himself had been preparing Daniel for the trials he would face. In order for us to understand Daniel's non negotiable faith, we have to travel back to Daniel's training camp.

Daniel grew up during one of the greatest revivals in the history of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Josiah rose to the throne at the age of ten; during his 12th year on the throne he instituted great spiritual reforms. Judah had forsaken the true worship of Jehovah and erected temples to other pagan gods. Josiah destroyed those temples and ran the sodomites out of the land, and restored the worship of Jehovah God. Those reforms did little to impact Josiah's heirs to the throne, but they did impact the lives of Daniel and his three friends.

God had been preparing Daniel for a time when he would not be in a safe, comfortable environment, when he was all alone and would be tested to take a stand. Daniel was being prepared for a time when his faith could prove to be an inconvenience, and God placed him in an inconvenient situation. Our first observation in this text is:

I. God's Word Is Dependable (1:1-2).

Who gave Jehoiakim and Jerusalem over to the Babylonians? God did! God had sent his prophets hundreds of years earlier to warn Judah because of her sins, God would use the nation of Babylon as an instrument of his correction. You will find these prophesies in the 2 Kings, Chapter 20 and Isaiah , Chapter 39.

People often times spurn God's long suffering, they ignore His warnings and assume they will never be called to account for their sins. But Isaiah 40:8 tells us, "The grass withereth with, the flower fadeth, but the word of God shall endure forever."

My friend the Psalmist understood this when he proclaimed: "Forever O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps. 119:89). God's judgment fell not in the time they may have expected, but as sure as God said it. And I say to America, beware, your sins have reached heaven in the deaths of over a million aborted babies, in the agendas of those that attempt to over turn God's laws of marriage - one man and one woman. In the Court that render decisions to remove God from life in America. Judgment will fall, just as sure as it did on Jerusalem. And when it does, the Christians must be prepared, just as Daniel was prepared. This was a bleak day in the history of Judah. Our second observation.

II. Government's Program of Religious Reeducation (1:3-7).

Daniel and his friends were selected for special training, they were the cream of the crop of the Hebrews.
1. But Nebuchadnezzar understood this their religion was in complete opposition to his agenda; so if he was going to successfully uses these young men in his government, he had to separate them from their God and their religion.
The program of reeducation begins.
1. Their names are changed. Daniel (God is my judge) - new name Belteshazzar (a servant of Bel). Hananiah (the Lord is gracious) - new name Shadrach (inspired by the sun god). Mishael (God has no equal) - new name Meshach (the god of mirth). Azariah (the Lord helps) - new name Abednego (servant of Nebo).
2. The program was designed to detach them from identification with Yahweh the God of Israel and to identify with the pagan gods of Babylon.
3. Next they were to eat certain foods offered to the pagan idols (v. 5), forgetting the dietary laws and customs of the Hebrew people.
4. Teaching them the Chaldean language (v. 4), hoping to completely detach them from the remembrance of their Hebrew homeland

Let me suggest to you today that in America in our institutions of higher learning there is a program of reeducation going on to take children that were raised in the Christian faith, and to replace to God of creation with the god of evolution. Children that were raised to marry before sex, to now experience it before Marriage, like test driving a car. Children that were raised with a view that homosexual lifestyles are sinful and an abomination to God, are now taught; no they are not, they are an alternative lifestyle to be embraced and enjoyed and honored as equal to heterosexual relationships.

Let me give you a little education lesson here. Did you know that Harvard, William & Mary. Yale, Princeton, and several other universities were founded by Christians to train and equip men for the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a quote from the mission of the early facility of Harvard University:
"Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of life and studies, is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning."

Yet today, the Bible is not allowed in Harvard nor is the mention of Jesus Christ.
So just as Babylon had an agenda of reeducation to detach Daniel and his friends from their God and their religion. There is an agenda in America today to raise a generation completely detached from the Christian faith and the God who so richly blessed this nation.

Daniel was faced with a dilemma, and this is what he did.

III. He Purpose in His Heart to Retain a Non Negotiable Faith (v. 8).

Although they changed Daniel's name, he never forgot his godly parents who named him, what his name meant, nor the God whom he served.. Sure he learned the language of the Chaldeans, so he could be functionally literate around them. But he never forgot his Hebrew tongue nor his religious upbringing.

Daniel was a young man, forcefully uprooted from his homeland and his family, subject to the pagan culture of Babylon. No one would have blamed Daniel for having compromised and submitted to the Babylonian reeducation program.

After all, situational ethics should apply, Daniel was just trying to survive. But that is not what Daniel did. On the contrary, he purposed in his heart not compromise. The stand must begin in the heart. Daniel's heart had been captivated by God's word before he entered Babylon, at an early age. That is why Daniel was able to stand his faith in inconvenient situations. Daniel may have been in Babylon physically, but his heart was still in Jerusalem.

My challenge to each of us today, including myself is this. Have you purposed in your heart to have a non negotiable faith, even when your faith my be inconvenient. The Lord Jesus said, "These people serve me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."
Proverbs 23:7 tells us, "For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he."

It must begin in our hearts, we must purpose to remove those things that offends God. I want you to also observe how Daniel remained faithful to his commitment.

IV. How Daniel Remained True To His Commitment.

He did it with politeness (1:8b). He requested he did not demand or try to force his beliefs on Ashpenaz. He showed respect to the authority over him.
He did it with God's help (1:9). God did something similar with Joseph, when his faith was inconvenient and he was placed in an inconvenient situation (Gen. 39:21).
He did it through persistence (1:10-11). He did not give up when his first request was denied. Daniel went to the steward directly over him.
Daniel did it through a willingness to test his own faith (1:12-15). He was confident that Gods way was best, so he was willing to put it to the test, together with his own faith.

Fifth, I want you to observe:

V. The Value Of Such Faith Seen in Its Results (1:15-17).

Daniel's keepers did not agree with Daniel's faith, but his persistence in his faith eventually impacted their own lives, so much so they could not deny the results.
1. Daniel and all those with him were healthier than the Chaldean men.
2. God blessed them more knowledge, wisdom, and Daniel the ability to interpret dreams. In other words, Daniel honored God and did not compromise his faith, even when it was inconvenient. So God honored Daniel and his friends (1:18-20). Moreover, Daniel continued in that position of honor for some 70 years, and their were more times his faith was tested, but he never compromised, even at the threat of death. Because Daniel purposed in his heart.

VI. Lesson And Applications From Daniel's Faith.

How To Succeed IN Keeping Our Commitment To The Lord.
1. Be polite. There is never a reason to be rude or arrogant when trying to stand your faith and share it. (Prov. 15:1 - "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stirs up anger).
2. Seek God's help. (Ps. 127:1-2 - "Except the build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchmen, watches in vain. It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep").
3. Be persistent. In other words, don't give up trying after meeting the first obstacle. (Matt. 7:11 - "Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you"). This literally means keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.
4. Be willing to test your faith. How willing are you to step out and test your faith? God even invites people to test his promises (Mal. 3:10).
Application
1. School age children. Out from underneath their mother's apron for the first time. They will be faced with making decisions. Will they have the faith of Daniel. Don't excuse kids, Daniel was a young teen when he made his decision.
2. College bound students. Moving away from home for the first time, leaving the spiritual environment at home, for one that is very hostile and like the world. Will you live and act with the same sort of commitment found in Daniel?
3. Adults in the workplace. Tempted to accept jobs which may make one compromise his/her convictions. Tempted in the work place to compromise your convictions for the sake of a promotion or raise. Will you display the faith of a fifteen year old in Babylon that put his life on the line and stood his Convictions?
4. Those With Unbelieving Spouse. Having to serve God and raise their children in the ways of the Lord on their own. With little or no moral support from your life mate, are you still willing to purpose in your heart to stand your Convictions, and not compromise. Not let your spouse impact you and pull you away from those belief and fellowship, but rather your life and convictions Exercised politely, God can use to impact your spouse.

Both Daniel and Joseph were sent by God to inconvenient places and to stand their faith when it was inconvenient, even at a young age. Will you purpose in your heart today to have a non negotiable faith?